Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Stanley Kubrick: A Biography by John Baxter.

Stanley
Kubrick: A Biography by John Baxter. Hardcover book published by
Harper Collins 1997, 399 pages with some black and white photographs.

Over the
years I have developed a taste for Stanley's films and many of his
masterpieces have received multiple viewings by yours truely. I
would even go so far as saying that I am a fan and I do pay attention
to things Kubrickian (eg. trivia, documentaries, interviews etc).
Kubrick is one of those directors that can continue to amaze, delight
and shock me time and time again. I have a number of favourites and
not so favourites, but I have also found that some of his films
after multiple viewings have left me with a completely different
opinion to the last time I saw them.

The
first Kubrick film I ever saw was Barry Lyndon. I think I was 12 or
13 and I saw it at a cinema in Dandenong. 12 or 13 is not a great
time to be seeing a lumbering period epic where it takes a long time
for anything to happen. My mother (the person who had dragged me
along) thought it was great, I thought it was ok. With further
viewings over the years Barry Lyndon has become one of my favourite
Kubrick films and i'm not alone.

At
this years annual Clunes book festival I was fortunate to have a vintage hardcover copy of Thackeray's Barry Lyndon
sitting on the shelf waiting for someone to eye it and bye it. It
was not a first edition, but it was a lovely worn vintage copy circa 1890s...
and reasonably priced. Anyway, a young man possibly 12 or 13 walks
into the shop and starts carefully perusing my rare and vintage
portion of the shop. Suddenly he gasps and asks if that is really a
copy of Barry Lyndon. I affirm this and casually take the book off
the shelf and pass it to him to consider. He started to very
carefully flick through the book
when I asked if he had ever seen the film by Kubrick. His answered
with a resounding yes and then continued to tell me that it was one
of his all time favourite films. I was gob smacked. This was not
what I was expecting from a 13 year old. He purchased the book and
then very quickly left the shop without another word. As I sat there
contemplating what had just happened, a few of the customers still in
the shop having overheard our brief conversation started to actively
discuss amongst themselves what had just taken place. I was not
alone in my disbelief and awe.

About Me

Huc & Gabet: Books of interest is a secondhand bookseller based in Clunes (Booktown), Victoria, Australia. These ramblings are intended as amusement and are based on the informed and ill informed (more of the ill informed, than the informed) opinions of the author. Anyone interested in purchasing books from me can check out my website. There is a link above.